A Rehabilitation of Pentheus:
John Bowen’s The Disorderly Women

Sophie Mills

University of North Carolina at Asheville

One question traditionally asked by many scholars concerning Euripides’ portrayal of Dionysiac religion in the Bacchae is whether or not Euripides “approved” of Dionysus. The question has been central to critical discussions of the Bacchae because of Euripides’ equivocal portrayal of Pentheus and Dionysus: Pentheus can be viewed both as the protector of his city from the destructive force embodied by the god, and as a young, misguided and impious tyrant; Dionysus can be seen both as a vicious and vengeful god or an essentially benevolent force which only proves destructive when it is suppressed. By contrast with Euripides’ relatively even-handed treatment of the two, many modern adaptors of the theme (such as Wole Soyinka) have notably favoured Dionysus’ claims over those of Pentheus: in Soyinka’s and other adaptations, he tends to become a one-dimensional, tyrannical and/or sexually repressed villain. A notable exception to this trend is John Bowen’s play, The Disorderly Women. Bowen even describes it as a story in which “a good man…is destroyed...” His Pentheus is a pinstriped bureaucrat who has devoted his life to creating a utopian society, which is, however, strangely dull and soulless: here, as Pentheus himself claims, “Everything works…[it is] not exciting, but it is noble.” (52-3). Into this society comes the hippie Dionysus, who lures the discontented women of the city with exotic and drug-infused rituals. (Bowen was writing in 1969 and the play is very much of its time.) Bowen’s Pentheus is an unusually sympathetic character. Essentially a humanist, he appears genuinely to value free religious expression, and he attempts to understand Dionysus’ religion and to allow it a place in his society. While Bowen retains the basic plot of the Bacchae, so that his Pentheus must meet his destined fate at the hands of the women on Mount Cithaeron, even his arrival there in women’s clothes results from apparently pure motives: originally he intends to send someone else, but when faced with accusations of endangering a subordinate, he accepts the responsibility fitting for a leader. By contrast, the negative traits of Euripides’ Pentheus are all been projected onto his Permanent Private Secretary. This paper will discuss the relationship of Bowen’s play to its original source with a close analysis of the dramatic effects of Bowen’s attempt to modernise an ancient dramatic plot.